Monday, November 23, 2009

Death to characters!

Here I am having a jolly time in Brum.

And I've been getting some writing done, hurrah!

I've been doing more planning on my next TV series pilot, Tec, and I've disposed of another character. There I was busily using one of Jeff Kitchen's plotting techniques from Writing a Great Movie and lo! I suddenly went "Is this main character really necessary? Could I combine him with this other main character? Would it hurt the plot? Damage the story?"

And I could only answer "No". In fact it improves it.

So let me see, I have now chopped out: one series leading character, one supporting character and one episode main character. (Oh, and a murder victim who is now offed before the main story starts, instead of during, so that's another one.)

Curiously enough the technique I was using is a refined form of something Bill Martell wrote about in his Script Secrets post for today. The only difference being that while Bill tells you that you must write your scripts in a logical cause-effect sequence, Jeff has a nifty technique to make it easy to achieve.



What's on the turntable? "The Deserter" by Gordon Giltrap from "Perilous Journey"

2 comments:

Eleanor said...

It's when you realise a whole third of the plot is unnecessary to the story and detracts from the emotional core, along with all the characters involved in it ... That's when you swear and gnash your teeth and wish it wasn't a full length feature film that you're having to gut and start over.
That experience is one of the reasons I gave up on the "I hate outlines/treatments" stance I held previously.
Guess I'm growing as a writer. *bitter laughter at self*

Adaddinsane said...

Well, I still hate treatments and outlines but I'm more willing to plan thoroughly.

Yah, growing.